Most Britons do not clean their toilets anywhere near enough, a survey to mark World Toilet Day has revealed.

The poll of 16 to 64-year-olds showed that 78% of the nation do not clean their loos every day - and 6% only bother to wipe round the bowl when it is visibly dirty.

The survey was commissioned by the charity Toilet Twinning which works to improve sanitation and prevent disease in some of the world's poorest communities.

The poll found that only one in five Britons cleaned their toilet every day.

Kim Woodburn, presenter of Channel 4's House Clean Is Your House?, said: "In the average household of two adults, two children, with one bathroom, the toilet should be cleaned once per day.

"It takes two minutes. Little and often will keep it spotless and there will be no build up of odours or bacteria."

Scottish toilets topped the cleanliness table with 27% carrying out a daily scrub, while London's loos fared the worst (19% cleaning daily). The Welsh appeared to be the dirtiest - with one in 10 cleaning their loo just once a month.

The smallest room in the house is a hive of activity. Scots preferred to get in and out fast while Londoners were most likely to look for a distraction.

The findings showed that technology was creeping into the bathroom with a quarter taking their phones to chat, text, email or update Facebook or Twitter. The English were twice as likely as the Scots or Welsh to update their Facebook status or to post a toilet tweet.

Toilet going is seemingly a social experience, as 5.5 million people (14%) confess to chatting on the loo. And women were more likely to talk in person, while men tended to chat on the phone.